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Steffen Schmidt - August 9, 2023
Japan vs Sweden
FIFA Women’s World Cup
Date: 11 August 2023, Friday
Kick-off at 08:30 UK / 09:30 CET
Venue: Eden Park (Auckland).
Japan and Sweden will play each other in the second quarterfinal at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup on Friday at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand.
Japan have been one of the most impressive teams in the tournament so far, winning all four outings by a margin of two or more goals difference.
The run includes a shocking 4-0 drubbing of European powerhouse Spain in the final group stage affair.
The Asian outfit showed their quality once again in the last 16 round, outscoring Norway 3-1 in a match in which they conceded the first goal in the competition.
Tournament’s top scorer Hinata Miyazawa was on the scoreline once again, taking her tally to five goals in four outings.
She has a great support from Minami Tanaka who delivered three assists and two goals in four matches and this duo will be very difficult to stop for any rival until the end of the competition, including Sweden.
The Scandinavians, on the other side, made the biggest shock of the competition by eliminating the back-to-back reigning champions USA after a penalty shootout drama in the last 16 round.
The Swedes were the inferior side on the pitch throughout the whole 120 minutes of play but their goalkeeper pulled off a miraculous display, stopping 11 shots and forcing penalties five days ago.
Sweden have not shown much offensively at all against the United States, creating very few chances and registering only a single shot on target in the 120 minutes of play in the last 16 round.
Japan have been the most impressive team so far in the tournament and we see the value in backing them to get the win at the 2.25 odds. You can also back the Japanese outfit to keep a clean sheet at the 2.50 odds.
